ESA, Russia to Collaborate on New Spacecraft Design

By Charles Q. Choi, Space.com Contributor |
June 23, 2006 10:56am ET

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Russia's plan calls for a six-person Clipper spacecraft to be hauled to the ISS via the Parom tug.

Credit: RSC Energia.

PARIS --
European Space Agency (ESA) governments agreed June 22 to participate in a
two-year program with Russia, and probably Japan as well, to explore
crew-transport vehicle designs for missions to the international space station,
the Moon and elsewhere.

The
Russian-proposed program, formerly called Clipper, has evolved into a more
modest effort to start with an evolved and enlarged Soyuz capsule as a design
focus. Only later would the program, now called Advanced Crew Transportation
System (ACTS), move to a possibly winged spacecraft along the lines of what the
Russians have proposed for Clipper.

Daniel
Sacotte, ESA director of human spaceflight, microgravity and exploration, said in
a June 22 interview that ESA governments led by France and Germany had agreed
to invest around 15 million euros ($19 million) on a two-year, collaborative
effort with Russia to settle outstanding ACTS issues.

These
issues include a division of labor between the Russian and European companies
on development of the major ACTS systems -- docking, leading-edge materials,
avionics and other technologies. ESA has insisted that it be given development
authority over a mission-critical system and not be limited to a
subcontractor's role. Sacotte said the Japanese space agency, JAXA, has
indicated that, if Europe joins Russia in the program, Japan will do likewise.

By 2008,
Sacotte said, the partners should be in a position to determine whether a
full-scale development effort is warranted.

More
immediately, Sacotte said, the Russian space agency, Roskosmos, this summer
will select a Russian prime contractor for the ACTS studies. Europe then will
assemble a consortium of its own to work with the Russian company.

ESA's
principal member states, including France, Germany, Italy and Belgium, have all
indicated that they want to participate in the development of a manned vehicle
that would be capable of performing a range of missions in the post-shuttle
era. The U.S. space shuttle is scheduled to be retired in 2010.

European
government officials have said they will not embark on a solo development
effort. They have approached NASA about joining the U.S. Crew Exploration
Vehicle program but have been rebuffed by the current U.S. government policy of
making the vehicle off limits to non-U.S. participants.

Russia has
taken the opposite approach, and has solicited ESA involvement in designing a
vehicle that would carry six astronauts and be capable of rendezvous and docking
in orbit, and ultimately of carrying out manned lunar missions and perhaps Mars
exploration as well.

Roskosmos
had asked ESA last December, during a meeting of ESA government ministers, to
take part in Clipper development. ESA governments declined to commit themselves
then, saying Clipper's design and mission goals were ill-defined. They said
they would review the program in June.

Russia's
Soyuz rocket is being modified for launch from Europe's equatorial Guiana Space
Center in French Guiana, with a first launch scheduled for late 2008. That
vehicle is designed to carry only satellites, not astronauts. But Russian and
European officials say an ACTS agreement would include both the French Guiana
site and Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as launch bases for future
manned ACTS missions.

Sergio
Vetrella, president of the Italian Space Agency, said June 21 that Italy likely
will be contributing to the two-year study effort at ESA in the hope that, by
2008, ACTS' mission and design are more clearly designed.

Sigmar
Wittig, executive chairman of the German aerospace center, DLR, said June 21
that Germany also would take part in the two-year ESA-led work, but that ACTS
and Clipper are not ready to go beyond the study phase.

"I start
with data points," Wittig said. "One data point is the shuttle's announced
retirement in 2010. Another is the need for a six-passenger vehicle to serve
the space station. A third is Russia's plans to upgrade or replace the current
Soyuz capsule. These are starting points. Obviously more are needed."

Sacotte
said the two-year study would include negotiations with Russia on how to treat
technology transfer between Europe and Russia. He said discussions so far with
Roskosmos have led him to believe that these concerns will not be major
obstacles.

Charles Q. Choi is a contributing writer for Space.com and Live Science. He covers all things human origins and astronomy as well as physics, animals and general science topics. Charles has a Master of Arts degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, School of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Florida. Charles has visited every continent on Earth, drinking rancid yak butter tea in Lhasa, snorkeling with sea lions in the Galapagos and even climbing an iceberg in Antarctica.